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Aoe 3 unit type skirmisher

Light infantry is a tag from the class system of Age of Empires III, being a subtype of infantry. It was introduced in Knights of the Mediterranean. In short, light infantry are a group of units that counter heavy infantry, light ranged cavalry and ranged shock infantry. In the game files, they are referred to as AbstractSkirmisher. It includes three subtags:

Caroleans have a negative multiplier against light infantry.

Hand skirmisher[]

Hand skirmishers are similar to other light infantry, and counter heavy infantry. But unlike those, they are focused on melee combat (AbstractMeleeSkirmisher in the game files). This tag was introduced in The African Royals.

The following units are light infantry that also have the hand skirmisher tag:

The following units are hand skirmishers, but do not have the light infantry tag:

Variants[]

The following units are neither under the foot archer or rifle infantry tag but are light infantry:

Counter skirmisher[]

Main article: Counter skirmisher

Counter-skirmishers are long-ranged infantry specifically designed to counter light infantry and also counter-skirmishers in most cases. While resembling light infantry in every statistic, they do not belong to light infantry (AbstractCounterSkirmisher in the game files).

Artillery trooper[]

Artillery troopers are long-ranged infantry with ranged attack dealing siege damage (AbstractAbusGun in the game files). Also, they are rifle infantry. This tag was introduced in update 23511.

The following units are artillery troopers:

Technologies[]

The technologies that affect units with the light infantry tag are shown below:

History[]

Light infantry refers to two different types of units depending on whether referring to Age of Empires III, to the expansions The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties, or to the Definitive Edition after the Knights of the Mediterranean release:

  • As tradition in other games of the series, in vanilla Age of Empires III all ranged infantry units that counter heavy infantry and light cavalry with their ranged attacks are considered light infantry.
  • In The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties, light infantry constitutes infantry that emulate cavalry. The units formerly tagged as light infantry are no longer considered as such and do not possess the tag anymore, being tagged as just infantry and ranged infantry; they're differentiated from the Musketeer-type of units which have the heavy infantry tag.
  • In the Definitive Edition, to avoid confusion, light infantry was renamed to shock infantry, although it is still referred as AbstractLightInfantry in game files. With update 13088, the AbstractCoyoteMan tag was altered to display as "Hand Shock Infantry" in the UI and was retroactively applied to the Tiger Claw and the Rattan Shield, while the Tiger Claw had its infantry tag removed. With update 23511, traditional units labeled as light infantry in roles and functions were placed under the foot archer and rifle infantry tags.
  • In The African Royals, with update 43871, the icon for hand shock infantry was added.
  • After the release of Knights of the Mediterranean, the light infantry tag was added, including all foot archer and rifle infantry units, making the class a return as a real class in the counter system. The readded class probably came back for accommodating new archetypes of units, like the Schiavone that counters light infantry.
Tags in Age of Empires III
Aoe3 unit type infantry Infantry
Aoe3 unit type heavy infantry Heavy infantryHand infantry ยท Aoe3 unit type hand infantry Pikeman ยท Musket infantry
Aoe 3 unit type skirmisher Light infantryFoot archer ยท Rifle infantry ยท Hand skirmisher
OtherCounter skirmisher ยท Grenade trooper
Aoe3 unit type cavalry Cavalry / Aoe3 unit type light infantry Shock infantry
Aoe3 unit type heavy cavalry Heavy cavalryAoe3 unit type melee cavalry Hand cavalry ยท Ranged heavy cavalry ยท Lance cavalry
Aoe3 unit type light cavalry Light ranged cavalryGunpowder cavalry
Aoe3 unit type light infantry Shock infantryAoe3 unit type hand shock infantry Hand shock infantry ยท Aoe3 unit type ranged shock infantry Ranged shock infantry
OtherCamel ยท Elephant
Siege units
Aoe3 unit type siege infantry Siege unit ยท Aoe3 unit type artillery Artillery ยท Stat icon siege elephant Siege Elephant ยท Gatling Camelยท Fixed Gunยท Arrow Knight*
Aoe3 unit type ship Ship
Fishing boat ยท Warship ยท Stat icon training ship Recruiting ship
Aoe3 unit type building Building
Stat icon resource enclosure Resource enclosure ยท Stat icon wall Wall ยท Frontier fortification ยท Barracks
Other
Aoe3 unit type hero Hero ยท Aoe3 unit type mercenary Mercenary ยท Monk ยท Stat icon outlaw Outlaw ยท Aoe3 unit type pet Pet ยท Aoe3 unit type villager Villager
Mother nature
Aoe3 unit type huntable Huntable ยท Aoe3 unit type treasure guardian Treasure guardian
Support tags
Gunpowder unit ยท Archer ยท Healing unit ยท Native warrior ยท Elephant ยท Camel ยท Archaic infantry ยท Ranged infantry ยท Ranged cavalry ยท Consulate unit
All tags with icons are related to the bonus and penalties counter system, except *hidden tags that aren't in the UI
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